Walking in Our Light - Incremental Change

I have been reflecting on the work that we have been doing during the last several weeks. I am continually impressed teachers' ability to step back from the current reality and pose thoughtful questions, reflect on our work, and collaborate.

Often in our professional work, we have to take small bites. As educators think about new ides, the sparkle in their eyes is sometimes followed by a moment of feeling overwhelmed. When thinking about the big picture and multi-year goals, just know that we won't arrive tomorrow, and that's ok.

The other day I heard a fact that it's 238,857 miles to the moon. I thought, "That's about how many miles are on the truck. I could have driven to the moon! Cool!" What a trip that would be. Think of all the stops to refuel, stretch our legs, etc. that we would have to do on a trip like that! We are on a journey together, and have to travel one mile at a time.

I pair the idea of incremental change with this thought, "We walk in the light we have at the time." When my children were small, I made my share of mistakes. I was voicing my regrets to someone at church one weekend. "If I only knew... I would have done things differently." He looked at me and smiled and said, "Kelly, we walk in the light we have at the time. You're light is just different now." That has given me comfort. As educators, we need to keep that idea close to us as we work together. Every one of us has the best interest of our students at heart, and that is ALL that matters.

 

Our responsibility as educators is to continually search for better light, while embracing change as an incremental process.